Season 7: Where Are They Now?

As we enter the final stretch of 2008, and are just 13 days from Season 8 of American Idol, I found myself wondering what the Top 10 finalists from AI7 are up to these days. We certainly hear more from some than others, but I guess I just wanted to write a final wrap-up and send-off on these guys before a new crop of Idol hopefuls dominates our collective experience. I have included MySpace/blog/website links where I've been able to find them, and would encourage you to use those to keep tabs on your favorites from Season 7!

Chikezie (now of one-name fame) was the first out of the Top 10 but has remained busy. Most notably, you may have seen him perform along with David Hernandez, Diana DeGarmo and Kimberley Locke as part of the American Stars on Holiday tour. The show, directed by American Idol associate musical director Michael Orland, ran around the country for 3 weeks in December. According to a recent interview, Chikezie started writing his album after the summer Idols tour finished, and he hopes to release it next year.

Ramiele Mulabuy, of petite stature but bigger voice, has been largely quiet since her Idol run ended, but not completely silent! She has her own website here where you can keep track of All Things Ramiele. In what became a very active Idol holiday music season, Ramiele released a Christmas single, “We Are One (This Christmas)” , from which she will give 2 cents per download to charity (available from her website).

Micheal Johns left the American Idol stage far earlier than most viewers had expected, topping out at Number 8. MJ brought a soulful Aussie swagger that Idol had not yet seen, and with his 6 foot 3 athletic frame, a sexiness that had often been missing as well (IMHO). Many felt it was just a matter of time before MJ would score a record deal and fans would hear more from him outside from AI. Micheal was busy from the day he left Idol, playing with David Foster and making multiple appearances on TV and in person across the country. He also played several shows in the Philippines last month and released a holiday single ("Another Christmas") in December, the proceeds from which will be entirely donated to charity (the Muscular Dystrophy Association and The Red Cross). Well, it took longer than most expected, but as of last week, Micheal Johns was signed to Three Ring Projects, the record company who also (very wisely) has Season 5's Elliot Yamin as a client. So fear not, we have not heard the last of Papa Johns! Keep track of MJ at his MySpace page.

Kristy Lee Cook's MySpace page mysteriously makes no mention of the fact that her 15 minutes of fame appear to be up. Apart from the two Davids, KLC was the first of the rest to be signed by a major record label (Arista/Nashville), a move that surprised a few people including me. What followed was a blur of minor promotional activities, none of which seemed to help lift her and her album from relative obscurity. Selling only 25K copies, 6 months later, she is dropped. Many argued that the album was too hastily assembled (4 days!!) using country rejects from Carrie Underwood, for starters. Well, we'll have to see what KLC does from here on out...keep track of her if you like (I won't).

Carly Smithson is another AI finalist we've not heard much about/from since she left AI. Sure, bits and pieces have cropped up here and there about her singing with Micheal Johns and getting a new tattoo, but by and large, we've not heard much. The latest news is that she is reported to be "writing with a certain Season 5 rocker" and will be releasing an album next year. Read all about it in Carly's blog here.

Brooke White has also been largely absent from the post-AI scene, other than news of her songwriting in Nashville and a benefit performance, and a heartfelt goodbye to her borrowed piano...will we hear more from her in 2009? time will tell...find out at her MySpace page!

Jason Castro...my Jason....oh, how I miss thee. I was delighted to find your Iamsecond webspot and learn just what makes you so special...and that the rest of the world will finally (hopefully) learn it as well. Jason's MySpace page has other bits of info on what he's up to, but I've also read that he has played out a (tiny) bit and released “White Christmas” on the ukulele as a FREE download on Amazon starting on 12/15 which I have amazingly neglected to download. ...wonder if it's still available??!! Go forth and prosper, Jason!

For coming in third place, we've hardly heard "boo" from Syesha Mercado. In fact, I've heard less about her than any other Top 10 finalist. I had to really dig to see what she was up to these days and found just two "sightings"...the first being the appearance (with Randy Jackson) at the “Gala For Children” event at the Beverly Hills Hotel on November 20th, followed by her appearance on the IKEA float (alongside Justin Guarini) in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving Day. Wonder if we'll hear anything from her in 2009? You can keep up with her on her blog.

On to the first of the two Davids...and my head has been spinning trying to keep up with David Archuleta. I don't believe he has stopped to take a breath since being named the AI7 runner-up back in May, a feat we've not seen since the Reuben/Clay one-two punch in Season 2. In fact, I think Archie has been every bit as busy and in-demand for appearances as Cookie has been. In addition to releasing a debut CD on November 11th which has just about gone GOLD as of this week (nearing half a mil in sales!) and 2 singles thus far, both with videos, David has made appearances too numerous to mention/list. He just finished a wildly successful radio tour gig thing across the country (the Jingle Balls) in which he performed songs from the CD as well as holiday classics, and he was amazing in the clips I viewed. I gotta tell ya, this kid rocks. I predict a big future for him....I'm excited to see where he goes next! If you haven't picked up David Archuleta, I suggest you do...you'll love it! Keep up with David at his MySpace Page.

Winner David Cook 's debut CD was released one week following Archie's on November 18th and it has already reached Gold status, selling 582,000 copies thus far. What followed the release, like Archie, was what can only be described as an exhausting series of concerts and appearances across the country from Rockefeller Center to Walt Disney World....from a children's hospital in Kansas City to the CNN newsroom in Atlanta. He'll end the year dropping the ball with Ryan Seacrest (sort of ) where he'll perform with Scott Weiland at The Mirage in Las Vegas on NEW YEAR’S EVE LIVE airing Wednesday, Dec. 31 (11:00 PM-12:30 AM ET live; CT/MT/PT tape-delayed) on FOX. What follows for Cookie in the new year? He's apparently headed to the Philippines for a few shows, and told Rodney Ho that he'll be doing a college campus tour this spring. Road trip anyone? :) Find All Things David at his official website.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Luke Menard Cancer Free

In this holiday season, I am pleased to pass on the wonderful news I just read on

Season 7's Luke Menard. According to Access Hollywood, Luke has been given the all-clear from cancer. As you might recall, Luke was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma earlier this year shortly after leaving Idol. According to this newspiece, Luke still has more than a dozen radiation treatments to go to target the scar tissue left following months of chemotherapy, but he is thrilled to end 2008 with happy news.

Luke says, "We were always praying for this news - to be cancer free. When you're going through chemo, it's kind of a one-day at a time thing. You don't know how you're gonna feel when you wake up in the morning and sometimes you're kind of sick and you're throwing up.

"It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's definitely been a year to remember and a year to forget - being on American Idol, and days after I was eliminated being told I had cancer. It's been a crazy year."

And to help out, most of his medical bills were taken care of by people concerned for him:

"All the producers from American Idol, 19 Entertainment ... David Cook, who won American Idol, ... he has been extremely helpful, even financially with medical bills. 19 Entertainment has helped out with medical bills, so it's been way more than I expected."

Luke has been touring with an a cappella group Chapter 6 and released an album with them called “With The Windows Down” on December 2. He's also been writing music - focusing on writing Christian music - an has even collaborated with AI6's Chris Sligh.

You can keep track of Luke at his blog located here.

Best to you, Luke!

Cook Rocks with Debut CD

If you are like millions of American Idol fans, you eagerly anticipated November 18th as much as I did: the date of the release of the long-awaited debut CD from Season 7's winner, David Cook. Like others, I wondered: would his debut effort match his captivating run on Idol? I loved David Cook's ability to take a song I thought I knew and shake it up into something fresh and different, and for this he stood out among all the other contestants. I also thought he had a great voice, and it sure seemed like he was a nice guy, grounded in family and friends, and he was the picture of grace and humility throughout the season.

Well, his voice sounds great on the CD, and all the press I've seen since his Idol win has shown him to be a humble and caring guy, and he sure seems to be continuing to take his new found fame in stride.

As for the CD, while I like it, and it continues to grow on me the more I listen to it, it isn't as compelling to listen to as his Idol performances were for me. Your mileage may vary. In fact, as much as I disagreed with other's comparisons of David Cook to Chris Daughtry (two artists I think are absolutely nothing alike), musically they sound very much the same to me. The CD is overall a pretty generic-sounding rock-lite compilation, enjoyable I guess, but nothing that offers up evidence of that "wow" factor I saw on Idol...in fact, I find myself reaching for Archie's CD (gasp!) more often than Cookie's! There, I said it.

The fact that DC recorded this CD while jumping across the country on the Idols Live tour this summer is simply amazing (but David Archuleta did that, too). More amazing is that he wrote or co-wrote 10 of the 12 tracks on the disc, the only 2 NOT being "Time of My Life" (the winning song from the Season 7 finale) and the first single off the CD "Light On." For this reason, I think we'll see and hear more of DC after this winter.

Favorite tracks? I took a drive across a couple of states with my family for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and because I knew he wouldn't listen to the whole thing, selected 3 tracks for my husband to listen to. I chose "Heros", "Come Back to Me" and "Permanent".

"Heros" was apparently written for/about his brother struggling with brain cancer. It's a powerful song, and gives evidence to what I experience on a daily basis with both my own kids and myself, and that is the never ending bond we experience with siblings (if we're lucky). I love that he considers his brother a hero, and I feel privileged to be able to share that with them though this song.

"Come Back to Me" is a great song of commitment and of seeing and loving someone for who they are, even though they don't always see the best in themselves.

"Permanent" is a heartbreaking song, again, about his brother, with a haunting piano riff but a message of support and of, hopefully, the permanence of our presence in each other's lives, no matter the circumstances.

Overall, a pleasing freshman effort....but for me, nothing to complain about, but nothing to rave about, either. Perhaps my expectations were too high?